[SB Cleaning]

The trouble with this forum as well is theres to many so called members lurking in the back ground who never post or contribute anything but pinch all the ideas off people that do post.

[NWH]

I know they are called sneaky F******S you mean the ones that people call lovely blokes 🤣🤣🤣,he would do anything for you that bloke including stabbing you in the back.

[swanson]

I wouldn’t worry about influx of window cleaners.
It’s easier to become a courier delivering parcels.

[NWH]

I wouldn’t worry when they realise how much work they need to make a decent living they’ll soon forget it,it won’t be coming into the ideal time for anyone to start window cleaning.
The chances are it’ll be late Autumn 🍂 before people start looking for another job,can’t see people thinking it’s the ideal job when it gets a bit chilly in the mornings lol,also they’ll need a few quid to invest unless they want to climb to the moon and back every week it still makes me smile to myself when I see someone with a blade and ladder these days.

[zesty]

The trouble with this forum as well is theres to many so called members lurking in the back ground who never post or contribute anything but pinch all the ideas off people that do post.

This is why I never share my website, I don’t want you lot knicking my ideas, seeing what I clean, knowing what commercial work I’ve got etc,

You never know who’s spying the forum from the areas you you work.

I never want to give competitors good ideas or info on my round. Sure they can google and find all the local window cleaners, but I’d rather not help them out. 

[harleyman]

Oooooog wait till you have a bad winter soon sorts the wanna bs.

[Stoots]

The trouble with this forum as well is theres to many so called members lurking in the back ground who never post or contribute anything but pinch all the ideas off people that do post.

This is why I never share my website, I don’t want you lot knicking my ideas, seeing what I clean, knowing what commercial work I’ve got etc,

You never know who’s spying the forum from the areas you you work.

I never want to give competitors good ideas or info on my round. Sure they can google and find all the local window cleaners, but I’d rather not help them out. 

I block as many local window cleaners as I can on Facebook.

Search for them and block them.

[Steve H]

When times are hard people who need work always turn to the easiest cheapest options (window cleaning) plus you dont need any qualifications as such.
What they will find hard is getting enough quality work (in most areas anyway) plus pulling out a bucket and squeegy doesnt really cut it these days, its not cheap to get going with a pole system and van either. Most will give it up after a few weeks/months, when they realise that its hard work,  if you have a decent customer base you dont need to worry, losing an odd customer wouldn't make any difference to me.

[dazmond]

When times are hard people who need work always turn to the easiest cheapest options (window cleaning) plus you dont need any qualifications as such.
What they will find hard is getting enough quality work (in most areas anyway) plus pulling out a bucket and squeegy doesnt really cut it these days, its not cheap to get going with a pole system and van either. Most will give it up after a few weeks/months, when they realise that its hard work,  if you have a decent customer base you dont need to worry, losing an odd customer wouldn't make any difference to me.

Drug dealing is much easier for a lot of people....

[Cookie]

Look after your customers & your customers will look after you.

I'm not worried about the influx of new window cleaners. I have plenty of work and am picking up new customers all the time.

[NWH]

People will always find work window cleaning but it will be work no one else wants in most cases,you need a relationship to some extent with your customers I’m a great believer in that.
They are not just paying for clean windows and that’s it they like to know who’s coming round the house when they aren’t in etc,people who think this is rubbish are cleaning what I call normal houses upper end domestics take it all into account when employing anyone to work on there property.

[NWH]

It’s almost impossible to build a business of 5-10 vans with what I call quality work domestic mainly,at that level you’d need to take on everything going and you couldn’t possibly build this kind of relationship with customers. 

[G Griffin]

When times are hard people who need work always turn to the easiest cheapest options (window cleaning) plus you dont need any qualifications as such.
What they will find hard is getting enough quality work (in most areas anyway) plus pulling out a bucket and squeegy doesnt really cut it these days, its not cheap to get going with a pole system and van either. Most will give it up after a few weeks/months, when they realise that its hard work,  if you have a decent customer base you dont need to worry, losing an odd customer wouldn't make any difference to me.

Drug dealing is much easier for a lot of people....

Not in lockdown.
I know a few dealers that have rounds to launder their dirty money and even they are on the glass.
I'm ringing them up asking them to save me a few grams and they're talking about brushes  .

[Kev Martin]

Main thing to do on here is to not help any newbies. Don’t give them ideas , don’t talk about pay. Let’s turn into a secret organisation again !

Good job people didn't think like that when you started or if you ask for advice.

That’s correct! However it wasn’t a problem when I started that new shiners were flooding the place. Now it is a problem

Everyone deserves help in my opinion!  Surely that’s why forums exist isn’t it? 

[harleyman]

Yes but you get the fly by nights  get what info they need  then go canvass go and charge stupid cheap prices  earn what the can then move on leaving all the guys  who have done this job most of there working lives having to deal with the aftermath of  Cheap  prices   you see it all to offten..rant over.

[Kev Martin]

Yes but you get the fly by nights  get what info they need  then go canvass go and charge stupid cheap prices  earn what the can then move on leaving all the guys  who have done this job most of there working lives having to deal with the aftermath of  Cheap  prices   you see it all to offten..rant over.

I agree with you as well.  But this happens in all walks of life.  There will always be someone who wants to do it on the cheap, or knows where you can get it  or do it cheaper.  We recently had someone who told us they could get  the same sealer for half the price we were selling it for and he told me where where they had seen it.  The price was less than my Trade buying in price .  So I thought  about it, spoke to the manufacturer who categorically stated it was impossible to get it at that price.  Then I decided if the supplier was telling the truth it either had to be counterfeit or stolen.  I thought  Sod it, and I sent for a bottle . 

1.  It arrived 10 Days later.
2.  The bottle looked genuine.
3.  I contacted the manufacturer and from the batch number they identified it had been made in 2013,  and consequently was 5 years past it sell by date and useless.  They went through their books for that period of sale of that batch.
4.  From this they then found out it was part of bankrupt stock lot  from a tile shop that had been flogged by some auction house 2 years previously.

So over 80 people had bought useless bottles of sealer albeit 1/2 normal retail but they might as well have bought pop.

It ‘s the same with traders, if you get someone in  just because they are cheap and you don’t check them out and don’t ask to see there portfolio or at least check on them,  then you deserve to have your fingers burnt in my opinion.  If it looks cheap or too good to be true then it usually is!  But sadly Greed takes over common sense with most people

[NWH]

This is why you need sensible customers who can see through it,if you charge 15 quid and someone comes along and says they’ll do it for 8 quid if they’ve half a brain they’ll see what’s happening. Like I said it’ll work on some houses but not on others,worst type of customer is 1 that’ always looking for a bargain or a cheap deal.

[Dry Clean]

We need to manage the influx of new cleaners , I’m just glad NK has gone. What a thicko he was giving out all the tricks of the trade willy nilly ffs 

Seriously ? if anything telling people its possible to clean 30 detached properties with conservatories a day using a brick brush and 200ltrs of water is bound to set them up to fail.

[NWH]

They were tiny houses though most of the ones I saw him cleaning,I would think the time taken guiding the hose round obstacles took longer than cleaning the windows.

[Dry Clean]

Same goes for our braggers, its a lot easier to succeed and last in this game when your wage expectations are low than it is when expecting the opposite, especially when the truth tends to be somewhere in between, long may they continue.